The Gallows Gang Read Online Free

How you killed Ramsey when he tried to stop you.’ Nathaniel shook his head. ‘That’s not the way it was. Turner was the one who …’
    Nathaniel saw the scepticism in Mitch’s eyes, so he gave up attempting to explain himself. Once rumours became widespread they were accepted as fact and nobody would listen to the truth. Not that it mattered this close to the gallows.
    He turned away from Mitch, aiming to drop his pants first, but then a whipping blow to the side of his head with the loop of chain that connected them sent him face first into the dirt.
    A mixture of his fall and the shared manacles dragged Mitch down on top of him. He tried to buck him away but Mitch had a tight grip on the chain and he dragged it round Nathaniel’s neck, then drew back, choking him.
    Nathaniel threw his hands to his neck and grabbed the cold metal, but he couldn’t tear it away from his neck to let him breathe. So he lunged for Mitch’s hands, but the man’s bunched fists were like iron.
    Slowly Mitch twisted the chain, tightening it even more.
    Motes of light and darkness flitted across Nathaniel’s vision as he fought for the air he couldn’t gulp in. Then footfalls approached, followed by a thud. Mitch’s hold slipped away, letting Nathanielroll on to his side, gasping.
    Then the guards beat Mitch and they even landed a few blows on Nathaniel for good measure. Afterwards they pulled both men to their feet and dragged them back to the cage.
    ‘Nobody gets out now,’ Hiram said. ‘You’ll all just have to stink up the cage.’
    ‘Hey,’ Mitch whined when they reached the door. ‘I don’t want to spend the rest of my life chained to this double-crosser.’
    The guard ignored him and moved to push him into the cage, but Hiram stopped him with a raised hand.
    ‘Wait,’ he said. ‘We don’t want no trouble tonight. Chain him to someone else.’
    ‘Who?’ the guard asked. ‘Nobody wants to sit beside the man who got them all put in there.’
    As Hiram considered the prisoners, Turner muttered that Mitch was right about Nathaniel being a double-crosser and this encouraged most of the men to grunt that they didn’t want to be chained to him either.
    Hiram’s gaze stopped when it reached the last man in the cage. He smiled.
    ‘Teach him a lesson for selling everyone out,’ he said. ‘Manacle him to The Preacher.’
    ‘Obliged,’ Mitch shouted, and the order gathered grunts of approval from the other prisoners.
    ‘And then I want no more trouble from in here,’ Hiram snapped, pointing at each prisoner in turn. ‘I’ve brought dynamite along. At the first sign oftrouble I’ll blow you all to hell.’
    In short order they removed Nathaniel’s manacles and transferred him to sit beside The Preacher. His new companion didn’t stop his steady muttering to himself, leaving Nathaniel to wonder why this was such a punishment.
    Once he was sitting, Turner caught his eye from the other side of the cage.
    ‘If Mitch can’t get you,’ he said, ‘at least I can get to watch you enjoying your time with The Preacher.’
    ‘He ain’t so bad after suffering Mitch’s company,’ Nathaniel said, ‘and your lies.’
    ‘You’ll have changed your mind by morning.’ Turner laughed. ‘Provided The Preacher doesn’t eat you in the night.’
     
    ‘I reckon this is the best position,’ Marshal Kurt McLynn said, looking over Shackleton Frost’s shoulder at the cage 400 yards ahead of and below them.
    Shackleton drew back from the edge of the ridge and shook his head.
    ‘I don’t agree,’ he said. ‘We should be nearer to the cage and you need other men scouting around.’
    Kurt laughed when he noted Shackleton’s grim expression.
    ‘Still questioning my orders, I see. Will you stop whining if Pablo Rodriguez does show and I bring him to justice?’
    ‘Nope. I don’t care about him. I guard prisoners and all I care about is discharging my duty.’
    ‘ My duty,’ Kurt said. ‘ Your duty is to do what I